Houston men’s basketball falls to Florida in heartbreaking national championship defeat

SAN ANTONIO — Redshirt junior guard Emanuel Sharp fell, hands at his knees, as a sea of orange and blue confetti showered down. Several teammates gathered to comfort him after Florida stunned Houston with a 65-63 victory in the national championship, coming back from a 12-point deficit on Monday.

“We thought this was a game that if we played well, we could win. And we did play well. We just didn’t play very good the last three minutes,” said coach Kelvin Sampson, who was seeking his 800th win. “A strength of ours all year long was winning close games. But tonight we didn’t.”

Down by one with 26 seconds remaining, Sharp lost control on a drive and kicked the ball out of bounds. The Cougars couldn’t get a stop on the other end and fouled junior guard Denzel Aberdeen, who sank a free throw.

With 4.8 seconds left and down two, Sharp attempted a three-point shot but walked, preventing him from picking up his dribble.

A scramble for the ball ensued until the clock hit zero, sealing the agonizing defeat for Houston.

In the final four minutes, Houston, who had not lost a game since February, turned the ball over five times.

With 46 seconds left, sophomore forward Joseph Tugler fouled out, sending graduate guard Alijah Martin to the line. Martin knocked down two free throws to give Florida its first lead since the opening minutes. 

Senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. did not score in the first half, but he tied the game at critical moments in the second half.

His first triple tied the game with 3:14 remaining, and he tied the game at the line after he was fouled, scoring his first field goal of the game with 7:54 remaining.

Houston started the second half on an 11-2 run, gaining a 12-point lead with 16:24 left, but Florida began to chomp away.

Graduate guard L.J. Cryer led all scorers with 19 points on 6-for-18 shooting and 4-for-11 from beyond the arc. A national title would have made him the first player to win championships with two different programs.

“It didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but we have to hold our heads high because we did accomplish a lot,” Cryer said.

Houston won both the Big 12 championship and tournament and set a school single-season record of 35 wins, but does not have a national championship trophy to show for it.

In fact, seven final four trips and three national championships ended with Houston heartbreak.

Now, Cryer, graduate forward J’Wan Roberts, graduate guard Mylik Wilson and senior forward Ja’Vier Francis will never wear a Houston jersey again.

“It’s heartbreaking for these guys, for all the older guys. Just to be in this position I’m in, not playing so much. I kinda just came into a place where I wanted to see these guys succeed so much, even more than myself,” freshman guard Mercy Miller said.

It wasn’t the Cougars’ “shining moment,” but adversity has always pushed Houston to rise again. It did this year, when the team started 4-3 and dropped to No. 17 in the AP poll.

“I told the younger guys, the returners, to remember this feeling,” Roberts said. “So when you are in this moment again, in this situation again, you’ll be on top.”

The chapter has ended, but there is always a new season and the same dream on the horizon.

“One day, just not today,” assistant coach Kellen Sampson said.

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